It’s very easy to let media hype influence eating choices. A new study comes out telling you this or that food increases your risk of having a heart attack and that food is off the menu. It’s hard to remember that the media is trying to get your attention. They need you to keep reading or watching whatever information they share. So, they are going to take a study (whether it is a solid study or not) and sensationalize it to keep your interest. Doesn’t mean the whole story is going to be fully shared.
This puts you at a disadvantage because you may not have the background to determine if the information shared is valid or not. How do you know if the study was peer reviewed? How do you know if the results have a statistical significance? How do you know if the study was funded by a company with a conflict of interest that caused results to be skewed in the direction they wanted? There are many factors to consider when determining the validity of study results.
Yes, you need to be aware of new research being conducted, but don’t let the TV, newspaper, magazine, etc. be the final determinant on what is a healthy food choice and what is not.
Here are a few foods that have been impacted by such media hype:
The Yale Heart Study is concerned with how people get medical care when they are having symptoms of a heart attack. They are asking people who have had a heart attack to share their experiences at their their website: http://heartstudy.yale.edu The goal of this study is to help people get care as quickly as possible when they are having heart attack symptoms.
The study is being conducted on the internet and takes about 30 minutes to an hour to complete depending on your experiences. Participation in this study is completely anonymous. The study has been approved by the Yale University Institutional Review Board and is funded by the National Institutes of Health. If you have any questions about this study please contact heart.study@yale.edu
If you know of someone who has had a heart attack, there is a place on the website for you to invite them to participate in the study.
Here’s the study address, again, is http://heartstudy.yale.edu
All the best,
Lisa Nelson RD
https://lisanelsonrd.com
The National Institutes of Health stopped a clinical trial studying a blood lipid treatment 18 months early. The study found that adding high dose, extended release niacin to statin treatment for patients with heart disease did not reduce cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes.
Study Participants
This study was referred to as AIM-HIGH (Atherothrombosis Intervention in Metabolic Syndrome with Low HDL/High Triglycerides: Impact on Global Health) and the 3414 participants were selected because they were at risk for cardiovascular events despite having a well controlled LDL cholesterol level. They were at increased risk due to a history of heart disease combined with low HDL cholesterol and high triglycerides. Low HDL levels and high triglycerides are both linked to increased risk of cardiovascular events.
Study participants were divided into two groups.
New results indicate individuals with low LDL cholesterol have a longer lifespan.
A study published in the Annals of Surgery and conducted at the University of Minnesota Medical School between 1975 and 2000 evaluated 838 heart attack survivors between the ages of 38-60 years-old. Out of the 838 participants 417 were instructed to go on a diet and 421 were instructed to diet combined with a partial ileal bypass surgery which bypasses the small intestine and location for cholesterol absorption. This is not a common surgery and typically reserved for high-risk heart attack patients who cannot tolerate statin medications. After 25 years, the participants in the second group had an increased life expectancy of one year.
It often feels like pharmaceutical companies often get wrapped up in dollar signs and forget the bottom-line reason for manufacturing the medication – improving your health. A study compared the effectiveness of Niacin versus Zetia.
The study
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine this past November 2009. Researchers analyzed the effect of extended-release niacin and ezetimibe (Zetia) on LDL cholesterol and HDL cholesterol levels.
If you strive for optimal health, consider adding a whole food supplement to your daily regimen. However, you must be a savvy shopper to make sure you select a supplement that lives up to its claims, because many are a waste of money. Things to look for:
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